Abstract
Objective
The estimated prevalence of learning disabilities (LDs) is nearly 8% of all children.
Fewer than 5% of all children are diagnosed in public schools, jeopardizing remediation.
We aimed to identify barriers affecting front-line child-facing professionals in detecting
LDs in school-aged children.
Methods
We conducted a qualitative study with individual interviews of 40 professionals from
different areas of the United States identified through theoretical sampling (20 educators,
10 pediatricians, and 10 child mental health clinicians). Clinicians represented academic
and community settings, and educators represented public, private, and charter schools.
Twenty had expertise in assessing LDs; 20 were generalists without specific training.
We also endeavored to maximize representation across age, gender, race and ethnicity,
and location. We analyzed transcripts utilizing grounded theory and identified themes
reflecting barriers to detection.
Results
Themes and sub-themes included: 1) areas requiring improved professional education
(misconceptions that may hinder detection, confounding factors that may mask LDs,
and need for increasing engagement of parents or guardians in identifying LDs) and
2) systemic barriers (time constraints that limited professionals’ ability to advocate
for children and to delve into their emotional experiences, inconsistent guidelines
across institutions and inconsistent perceptions of professional responsibility for
detection, and confusion surrounding screening tools and lack of screening by some
professionals in the absence of overt problems).
Conclusions
Clinicians and other child-facing professionals may benefit from augmented training
in screening and identification and enhanced evidence-based and institutional guidance.
These efforts could increase efficiency and perceived responsibility for recognition
and improve earlier detection.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 26, 2022
Accepted:
December 17,
2022
Received:
May 31,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
Conflicts of Interest: None.
Identification
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 by Academic Pediatric Association
